


Measure of a Man

by NeoVenus22



Category: Torchwood
Genre: Gen, Leap for Prompts 2008
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-12-23
Updated: 2009-12-23
Packaged: 2017-10-05 01:29:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/36297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NeoVenus22/pseuds/NeoVenus22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite what his coworkers think, Owen Harper does possess a certain degree of self-awareness.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Measure of a Man

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers: take place between seasons 1 and 2.

Despite what his coworkers think, Owen Harper does possess a certain degree of self-awareness. And he knows he's being a petulant little prat. But he's hard-pressed to care. So Jack is gone. So what? All he ever did was flounce about on rooftops and snog everyone. (Not Owen, at least, never Owen, although he wonders that if it had happened, would he be as mopey as Gwen and Ianto? He shudders to think.)

Just because Jack is gone doesn't give Gwen the right to behave like a queen bitch, as though Jack's departure was a specific affront to her. She'd always been in the habit of throwing her relationship with that... whatever it is her boyfriend does, Owen was never listening hard enough to remember— in everyone's face. 'Look at me, I'm still capable of being normal.' That was one thing, and Owen was always generous enough to never begrudge her those moments of normalcy. Give it time; after a year or two, she'd be as screwed up as the rest of them. But the thing with Jack, you'd think he was the bloody love of her life, the way she way she behaves. Once again, Owen is being treated as a second-class citizen, only worthy of notice when he's 'useful', either for a shag or an autopsy, although he hardly does the one anymore.

Maybe that's why he's so irritable.

Ianto and Tosh, for their parts, are tolerable at best, if only for the reason that they don't start every conversation with "if Jack were here..." Big bonus. Sure, his name comes up, and often, and Tosh frowns at her equipment and Ianto makes a moony face, but they're not half as bad as Gwen. Besides, they still manage to pretend like Owen matters. Really, that's not too much to ask, right? Given that he's been here longer than Gwen, that's for bloody sure. Yet she's the golden child, the protégé, the one they listen to instead of him.

He's tried being mature. He's tried being serious. He's tried giving this job the respect it deserves. But fat lot of good it's done him, fat lot of respect he's gotten in return. He's smack dab in the middle of a crew that would rather pretend he doesn't exist, acting as if everything they do is just a placeholder until Jack returns. If Jack even returns. Nice of them, really.

So he's being a wanker. He knows he is. He strives to be. They had it coming.


End file.
